admineducation methods and curriculum while teaching the basics of financial intelligence by giving a peep window into the minds of the rich.
While most people require financial freedom the truth is they do not have a single clue on how to get to the state of financial freedom they desire. The only way to attain financial freedom is through financial intelligence.
This article will share on one of the most misunderstood yet simple routes to financial freedom: Entrepreneurship. While most people are aware of what entrepreneurship is they do not understand it.
They have learnt entrepreneurship in school, probably in Commerce, Management of Business, Business Studies or Accounting and passed the subject but reality is they still do not understand it.
“Entrepreneurship is converting ideas into money by simply taking risk in setting up a business,” Arthur Kaitano a business administrator said.
Working with that definition it then follows that anyone can be an entrepreneur if they have the desire to do so.
The first thing required to make one an entrepreneur is the desire. While some desire to be entrepreneurs, some do not want to undertake the risk and would rather have the certainty assured by a formal job. So entrepreneurship’s starting point is desire.
Once the desire has been established one needs to learn to identify business opportunities in everyday life. The life we live is full of opportunities.
The simplest way to identify opportunity is to analyse your spending habits.
Find out where most of your money goes to and find if there is an opportunity for you to be part of the supply chain that brings you the product that you spend the most on readily. Once you have learnt to do so you will find that as you progress in entrepreneurship, the opportunities with the most money are the ones that few people can see. It takes practise and learning to be able to identify these opportunities and moving in at the right time.
Having identified opportunities the next stage is ideas generation. Ideas are the drivers of all businesses. They are the ones that move and propel business. Ideas put together are what most people in the business want to refer to as a business proposal. If you learn things to understand them for use and practice as opposed to passing exams you will realise how exciting and easy they are to master and comprehend.
Ideas alone are worth a lot of money in business that is why there is big capital that is waiting to finance ideas in the financial sector. The problem is most people have money but they do not have ideas that can multiply their money. They will happily put their money into ventures that promise to multiply their capital.
This simply means that once you have business ideas you are on the first stages of entrepreneurship. Brilliant ideas result in phenomenal profits and it is easy to get funding.
So while you do not have money to implement your ideas, you should learn to put your ideas together and lay them on paper in a simple yet convincing manner.
The idea is that any prospective investor or stakeholder should take a few moments to realise opportunity in your proposal before they can commit their money and resources.
Donald Trump, an American business guru, is well known for the “Elevator Test”. He says if you cannot convince him about your business idea in an elevator then you are not worth an appointment with him.
The product (service) is where the money is. Ideas should culminate into products (service). This is because people pay for products. If you do not have a product then you do not have a business. A product is simply a sum of capital plus ideas:
Capital + Ideas = Product
So your idea is not enough. You need to look for the money that will translate your idea into finished product that can be purchased by the consumer. The consumer should be willing to spend more than the capital put in added to the monetary value of the idea.
When the product is in place the only thing that remains is learning how to sell. Sales are the streams that bring profit to the enterprise. The product has to be sold if profits are to be made. Selling is more of an interpersonal skill which needs to be learnt and perfected.
There it is entrepreneurship at a glance! To be the next Strive Masiyiwa you need to start where you are. You will get sophisticated as you go.
Till next week, God bless you all.
l The writer is a motivational speaker. He can be contacted on [email protected]
Online Reporter